Masquerade's End
by Shadow Oblivion
Summary: When the dust on the battlefield had settled and a victor emerged, only the removal of a mask revealed a truth to the fallen king of Dressrosa. Written for the opreversebang.


A/N: This is my contribution to the opreversebang. I worked with Majora-sariachan and the artwork immediately had me writing as soon as I saw it, so I'm glad I got paired up with her (fyi it got way longer than I anticipated since I kept adding to it because I love Doflamingo and Rocinante/Corazon interactions). Hope it turned out all right in the end.

I can't put the link in the fic for some reason, as it gets cut off, so search for MajorasMasks on deviantart to see the pic and I will try to put a link in my profile if it lets me and I can figure it out.

Disclaimer: I own nothing from One Piece.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

The destruction reached as far as the eye could see.

It appeared as if no corner of the country had been spared from the widespread effects of the battlefield with which the combatants had been scattered across. But now, the nightmare appeared to be coming to an end with the sight of two figures taking their fight into the sky above the torn apart land.

And he was there to witness it.

The tallest member of the CP0 had been carefully navigating the mess that Dressrosa had become, and had been taking care to not fall down any sharp drops caused by the land's jagged appearance. The masked man felt as if it was not going to be easy for the citizens to bring their country anywhere near back to normal. It would take a lot of effort to have it even be the image of what had since been destroyed.

There was a loud, dull roar working its way from up ahead, and the man paused in his walk to see what the fuss was about. The tall man lifted his head in time to see the larger figure in the air be pummeled into the ground by the other, and the resulting force that split the ground sent a shockwave that nearly knocked the masked man over, and he had to concentrate with all his might to not fall over.

The CP0 agent made the decision then and there to shed most of the over coat that he had been wearing to better navigate around the ruined landscape. It wouldn't do to trip on the trailing fabric if he was already having difficulty with the ground beneath him. Behind that mask, faint concern furrowed the man's brow, and he wondered whether or not Doflamingo had survived the fall. A normal person most certainly would have fallen to their death from such a height, but Doflamingo…

Doflamingo would survive, there was no doubt about that, although whether he'd been knocked out or was still conscious yet lying helpless on the ground remained to be seen. The masked individual tilted his head up to view the clear skies, and let out a low sigh. The disappearance of the Bird Cage was a relief, as it was a painful reminder of something from the past the man didn't care to think upon.

Behind the masked man, from the direction that he had come from, there was a ship anchored in the harbor. It was the government ship that he had used to sail to Dressrosa, along with the other two men from CP0. He had left his companions behind, however, as soon as he had seen the Bird Cage and all the destruction that had begun from Doflamingo's Parasite ability. The tall man had been making his way from one side of the island to the other, and had received no communication from the other CP0 agents during that time. It appeared as if the Bird Cage that Doflamingo had created had prevented the sending and receiving of messages, but now that it was gone, there was no longer any interference.

"Ring ring ring."

The masked man ignored the Transponder Snail that indicated one of his companions was attempting to make contact with him. If all went as planned, there never would be any contact between himself and the CP0 ever again. But all that depended on what happened when he came across Doflamingo. The masked man reached the area where Doflamingo had fallen moments later, and began the descent down into the crater that had been made, and emerged in what appeared to be an underground harbor. It didn't take long for the tall man to come across Doflamingo. The warlord lay on his back with his arms spread-eagled, completely motionless. The man in the mask paused mid step as his eyes fell upon broken glasses at Doflamingo's side. The man stared at those broken glasses before he turned his head and silently studied Doflamingo himself. After a brief moment's hesitation, the man approached the fallen warlord's left side and knelt down.

The man reached a hand up to the mask he wore, and began to remove it. By doing so, the man revealed himself to be Rocinante. Doflamingo's younger brother, who was presumed dead. Rocinante felt the beginnings of tears forming at the corner of his eyes as he loosely held the mask and observed the state he had found Doflamingo in. There wasn't much blood, but that didn't necessarily mean that he wasn't more hurt than he appeared to be. Or dead. Rocinante looked his brother over again. He didn't actually want Doflamingo to be dead, but from how still he was, Rocinante wondered if he might be. In the end, he had only wanted to stop Doflamingo from doing all of the destructive things that he had been up to. Another look and Rocinante couldn't help but remember in that moment that this was the first time that he had ever seen his brother without some kind of glasses on to conceal his eyes.

Meeting his brother in this manner or just even coming across him at some point in time was one of the main reasons that Rocinante had gone through the trouble of convincing the government to let him join the CP0. At least, on the surface. It had been difficult and had involved some painful decisions, but he had done it all the same. Because Rocinante felt responsible for Doflamingo being able to successfully take over Dressrosa, and felt that he had to do something about it.

Anything, really.

Even work for the world government for a time, even if he was again playing the double agent and also working on the side of the revolutionaries. He was supposed to meet up with Sabo and some of the other revolutionaries as soon as he had Doflamingo in tow, willingly or unwillingly, conscious or not. It seemed that Law and some of the other pirates that had ended up on Dressrosa had made the decision for Doflamingo, and Rocinante would be bringing with him either a very dead body or an unconscious one.

On the tail end of that thought, Rocinante could only expression confusion over Law's actions in Dressrosa, and couldn't shake the feeling that there was a reason why the dark haired man had gone after Doflamingo. Especially when Rocinante had told Law all of those years ago that he was free of Doflamingo.

Rocinante brought himself back to the situation at hand, and knew that he was delaying finding out Doflamingo's status because he didn't want to know. Didn't want to think what he would do if his brother was dead because they had much to talk about. Although whether it would be an easy conversation or not all depended on Doflamingo's mood when he realized that his younger brother was very much alive.

There were several ways it could go down, but avoiding the inevitable did nothing.

With a deep breath, Rocinante let it out slowly as he tentatively reached out with one hand to rest it on Doflamingo's shoulder. He'd never seen his brother in this state apart from when they were children and being tormented by the locals when they'd found out that they were Celestial Dragons, even former ones. Rocinante nearly jumped out of his skin when Doflamingo's right hand suddenly gripped his in an incredibly weakened hold. Rocinante wasn't sure whether to be relieved or not that Doflamingo was alive, even if just barely from the sound of the other man's voice.

"Roci…?" The sound was more of a rattling gasp than anything else. With his eyes now visible, Doflamingo's expression conveyed mainly confusion. "Am I dead?" It was said in a way that made it clear that Doflamingo couldn't possibly fathom the idea of actually being dead but seeing Rocinante there by his side clearly made him second guess himself.

Rocinante silently gripped the hand that had rested over his own, not sure what to say. When he had come across his brother, he had thought that he would either be dealing with a dead body or an unconscious one. Not an awake and aware one, and that would make it difficult to get Doflamingo to come with him, even if he wouldn't be able to put up much of a resistance from the looks of it. He could barely keep a hold of Rocinante's wrist, so the younger man felt he could deal with Doflamingo should he choose to make this harder than it had to be.

"I find it difficult to believe that you survived those injuries." Doflamingo stated with a wheeze. "Especially not all of those gunshot wounds."

Rocinante withstood his brother's searching gaze and he felt that it was as if the warlord was confirming that he wasn't seeing things before Doflamingo offered a faint grin. That smile unnerved Rocinante, but he waited to see what would happen. He couldn't be too careful where his brother was concerned, and he didn't want to say anything unnecessarily should it give away any information that Doflamingo didn't need to know about.

"Not going to say anything? Guess I should have expected that." Doflamingo let out another wheeze as his eyes closed. "Law and Straw Hat Luffy certainly did more damage than I had anticipated."

"Not as much damage as the citizens of the country will do to you should they find you in this state." Rocinante pointed out. He felt he had to say something while he tried to decide what to do, while still playing it safe and not giving away too much. "And none of this would have happened had I realized that you had had Vergo infiltrate the marines. I would have been able to warn Law of him in advance to not approach him. It was my mistake to speak when I did, as I had not anticipated seeing Vergo at that point in time."

Doflamingo chuckled at that but the laugh only came out as a series of raspy coughs instead. "Well, it only lasted for 10 years. I should have guessed that Law was up to something, but I had thought that…" The warlord broke off to cough again as he struggled to get his breathing back under control before he continued. But as he did, Doflamingo attempted to hold on to Rocinante's hand even tighter, as if it kept him focused on the matter at hand and not his battered body.

The younger Donquixote brother waited patiently to see if Doflamingo had any more to say and it appeared as if the warlord did as he spoke after a brief pause.

"Fufufu. His crew's name…the Heart Pirates…I thought that meant that he…was still interested in taking the Heart Seat. I kept it open for Law all of those years for nothing, it seems." Doflamingo opened his eyes and glanced up at Rocinante. He didn't look away, not seeming to care that he no longer wore his glasses or that his expression and the feelings behind them would be clear in his eyes. "Law must have named his crew after you. Brat's even got a large heart shaped tattoo on his chest."

"Why would he do that?" Rocinante felt the need to ask, even if he felt he already knew the answer. Just like he began to feel that he knew why Law had attacked Doflamingo in the first place. Rocinante had wondered for a time why Law had remained a pirate even though Rocinante had said that he had been free of Doflamingo. Well, Rocinante wasn't sure if Law had heard him from where he'd been in that box. Rocinante had certainly thought it as he laid there in the snow and thought that he was going to die. And he hoped that Law would be free from all that had held him back in the past, but from Law's recent actions, it suggested otherwise.

It seemed the dark haired pirate was still stuck in the past.

"He thinks that I killed you." Doflamingo said after a brief silence, his hand twitching in his brother's grasp. "He even had…the gall to say that I should have died…that day."

"He did?" Rocinante didn't know what to say to that. He had wanted Law to remember him, but to go after Doflamingo…

"I really am still alive, aren't I?" Doflamingo asked dazedly, as if not really caring one way or another right that moment.

"Yes, you are." Rocinante said in return. The younger Donquixote brother glanced over his shoulder at the sound of voices approaching them. "But not for long should those people over there come upon us."

"Fufufu. I have enough left in me to…deal with them." Doflamingo wheezed.

"Don't overexert yourself." Rocinante warned. He had a mission, and while he wasn't particularly happy about it, he was going to follow through with it to make sure that Doflamingo didn't do any more damage than he already had. "You do realize that if the marines come across us you will have your title as warlord revoked. And all the protection you had from that title will vanish and you will not be able to have anyone, marines or otherwise, prevent people from coming after you who want to see you dead."

"I wouldn't be surprised from what I heard earlier." Doflamingo rasped as he tilted his head to try and catch Rocinante's eyes. When he did, he added, with a weary smile and a faint hand squeeze. "Do you want me dead as well?"

"No." Rocinante felt himself tear up again and stubbornly lifted his free hand to wipe away a few stray tears. "But I can't let you slip off now. I have some contacts within the Revolutionary Army. Now is a good time as any to cut ties with the world government and the CP0. I can't allow you to get away and cause any more damage than you've already done." Rocinante looked away. "I had only ever wanted to stop you and if possible take you with me if someone didn't get to you first and kill you."

"Perhaps you should have let them kill me. You know I will have no desire to talk to anyone about any…pressing matters, least of all my underground connections and some other…vital information. I keep my secrets unless it becomes convenient to the situation." Doflamingo warned wearily, a little more alert and on guard despite the terrible state he was in. "You will only be wasting your time if you take me with you to the revolutionaries."

"You'd rather be torn apart by an angry mob?" Rocinante asked dubiously. "I find it hard to imagine that you would prefer to die in that manner."

"I wouldn't die because I'd give them something to think about instead. I won't let those damn peasants think that they have me beaten just because some upstart pirate brats decided to pick a fight with me." Doflamingo issued weak laughter at the absurdity of being beaten down by said pirate brats, but the laughter halted abruptly when Rocinante seized his other hand and began to try and bring his wrists together. Doflamingo turned away as best he could, clearly frustrated over the fact that his body was slower and weaker after the beating he'd taken. The fact that he couldn't even free his wrists from his own brother's grasp, while Rocinante wasn't even holding on too tightly, appeared to have given the warlord pause about just how bad of shape he was in.

"No sea stone." Doflamingo said in a weak but firm tone, when he saw that he had Rocinante's attention. "I don't have _that_ much energy left."

"What do you mean you?" Rocinante asked.

"I used a lot of my energy up during that pointless fight." Doflamingo said evasively.

"The pointless fight that involved you being defeated?" Rocinante still couldn't believe anyone, let alone Law and Straw Hat Luffy, had managed to take down his monster of a brother. He could only hope that they had come out less wounded than Doflamingo. Rocinante would hate to think that Law was somewhere nearby and injured when he shouldn't have even been near his brother in the first place. Rocinante realized that Doflamingo had begun to discreetly try and inch his hands out of his grasp, and redoubled his grip as his eyes went to his brother's. "And you did not answer me. Why would you be low in energy?"

"I'm still using my powers right now." Doflamingo said with a weary bite to his tone as he furrowed his brow.

"Why is that?" Something in his brother's voice made Rocinante narrow his eyes skeptically. Doflamingo was not attacking him, to his knowledge, so he couldn't see how he would be using his powers at that point in time. Rocinante decided that he wasn't about to tell Doflamingo he had a Devil Fruit as well, as that might anger the man that Rocinante had not owned up to that fact. Besides, Doflamingo was surprisingly compliant thus far and he would rather keep it that way, even if Doflamingo seemed to become more aware and more irritable with every passing second that went by.

"Law shredded most of my internal organs with an attack of his. My Devil Fruit is the only thing keeping them together." Doflamingo broke off into another wheezing cough before he continued with a self-deprecating smile. "I doubt that…I will live for long because of it. But as to how long I have left? It could be hours, days or weeks. It is difficult to say." Doflamingo closed his eyes. "I'm too exhausted right now to do anything other than to continuously keep my…powers active to keep everything intact as best I can." Doflamingo muttered more to himself than his brother. "Not going to give that…brat the satisfaction of knowing his last ditch effort… did more than he imagined it did."

Rocinante wasn't sure what to think of Law doing such a damaging attack yet at the same time marveled that the dark haired pirate could have done such things with the op op fruit. He certainly seemed to be living up to his Surgeon of Death title, and Rocinante could only hope that Law was actually helping people more than harming them.

"I thought you were going to…handcuff me?" Doflamingo queried with a ghost of his usual grin.

"These are ordinary shackles." Rocinante said after he'd produced them from his belt. Doflamingo tried to put up a struggle but it really amounted to nothing as soon as his wrists were cuffed securely behind his back. And contrary to what Rocinante believed he would do, he told Doflamingo his little secret once he'd finished. "I'm a Devil Fruit holder as well, so I cannot touch sea stone." And just like he'd expected, Doflamingo's temper had flared in that his voice had gone cold.

"What?"

As Rocinante rose, trying to think of how best to explain things, he let out a sudden gasp as he flailed and then fell over.

"It is good to know that some things don't change." Doflamingo said breathlessly after another fit of coughing, his anger dying down in the face of something familiar. "You're as clumsy as always." The soon to be former warlord fixed Rocinante with a look. "And since when…did you have a Devil Fruit?"

"If you mean did I have it when I came back to you after 14 years, then yes, I had it." Rocinante said. "And if you still have doubts that I do not want you dead then this should answer your question." Rocinante reached out and patted Doflamingo's shoulder before his brother could argue with him. "Calm."

Doflamingo opened his mouth to speak but no sound came forth. The blond looked perplexed before he seemed to put two and two together and gave his brother a mistrustful look.

"Yes, I could have made myself silent and went into your room anytime I wished and stuck a blade between your ribs. But you know as well as I do that I never did that." Rocinante said, and to Doflamingo's surprise the younger blond hefted him onto one shoulder. "Think about that the next time you want to accuse me or infer that I was plotting your death behind your back or something along those lines." With a faint smile at Doflamingo's apparent shock at being lifted and carried like this, Rocinante began the long trip back to the shore where he knew the revolutionaries had a ship anchored. But as Rocinante neared the ship, he had to briefly set Doflamingo down on the ground to get a call to one of the revolutionaries to get on board.

And that was when a voice rang out in a vicious snarl of anger.

"Doflamingo!"

Rocinante turned in time to witness the sight of Law charging toward them with a nodachi drawn. The blond was startled by the utter rage in Law's expression, and the fact that the dark haired pirate only appeared to have eyes for Doflamingo. And those eyes held nothing but a promise of death for who he had his sight set on. But despite that anger, that rage, Rocinante saw that Law looked utterly exhausted and on the verge of collapsing himself. But either way, Rocinante felt he had to interfere, because Law seemed to be blinded by the singular goal to be rid of Doflamingo, who was currently on the ground and doing nothing but taking short pants of breath.

Doflamingo was no longer a danger, but Law apparently didn't see that.

Rocinante waited until the dark haired pirate was too close for comfort before he intercepted Law's blade swing and caught the other man by the arm, halting the blade's progress.

Law didn't seem to notice that he'd been halted, as he was still seething in Doflamingo's direction and mindlessly trying to push the blade the rest of the way down to its intended target.

"That's enough, Law." Rocinante said quietly. "It's all right." While he waited to see of his words sunk in, Rocinante was relieved that Law was alive, and without any trace of the amber lead disease from when he'd been a young teen. Rocinante just didn't know what to think of the fact that Law's right arm was wrapped tightly in bandages and he seemed to be having trouble keeping a grasp on his weapon with it.

Had he been injured? Had Doflamingo been the one to injure him?

It took Law several long moments to realize that he had been spoken to, and when he turned his head to look at Rocinante, a surprising change came over the dark haired man.

"Cora-san?" Law teared up and he could only stare at Rocinante as if he'd seen a ghost. Then the tears began to fall. "I thought…you were dead." Law choked on his words as if he couldn't possibly be seeing what he was. "I thought Doflamingo…killed you. How are you alive?"

It was as Doflamingo had said.

Law had thought that he was dead when he'd likely heard Doflamingo shoot him all those years ago. Rocinante had used his Devil Fruit powers on Law to keep him quiet back then, because the younger Donquixote brother had figured that the shots Doflamingo had hit him with would end his life.

It seemed as if Rocinante owed Law an explanation, but perhaps now was not the best time.

It upset Rocinante that Law was crying because it meant that the dark haired pirate hadn't forgotten about him, and in fact had likely done all he had to try and avenge him. Rocinante didn't want to believe it, but there was no other explanation for why Law would have ever bothered to cross his brother. Not that Rocinante would have wanted Law to burden himself in such a way. That wasn't why he had saved Law in the first place. He'd saved him because he'd cared and loved Law enough to sacrifice himself to get the then young teen away from Doflamingo's poisonous presence and be able to live his life freely. With a heavy sigh, Rocinante gently eased Law back away from Doflamingo, and was relieved that the dark haired pirate sheathed the blade when he was let go of.

"I'm sorry, Law." Rocinante said after he'd glanced down at Doflamingo. "I didn't realize that you would have ever gone after my brother. I thought I'd made it clear you were free of that all those years ago. That you'd move on with your life since you could cure yourself of the amber lead disease." Rocinante hesitated, and then added. "And I thought you would hate me for lying to you about being a marine. That you'd forget about me."

"I already knew that you'd lied about being a marine, but at the time it made me happy that you'd do it to reassure me." Law shook his head. "I didn't care at the time because you were trying to make me feel better and that was what mattered." The surgeon couldn't help but cry some more. "And I could never forget you. I wouldn't want to ever forget you, with what you did for me. And I wanted to stop Doflamingo because you weren't able to."

"Law…" Rocinante spotted marines approaching from a distance, and as much as he wanted to talk to Law, he felt they both had to go their own ways for the time being. "You need to get out of here before the marines show. I'll try and get into contact with you after things calm down."

Law was obviously reluctant about this, but at the sight of all the marines and what appeared to be Tsuru and Sengoku at the front of those marines, the dark haired pirate seemed to think it a good idea to leave. He clearly wasn't in any shape for a real fight. With a final searching look at Rocinante, Law turned away and ran in the direction of what looked to be a group of pirates and someone shouting at the dark haired pirate and waving their arms at him and saying 'Torao' or something.

Rocinante stooped to help Doflamingo up again, and decided to just get onto the revolutionary ship without making any calls. He too had to get out of there before anyone realized he'd abandoned his CP0 post. He just barely made it, and the revolutionaries luckily didn't ask too many questions. Rocinante had run across Sabo and Koala just as he boarded and managed to explain things relatively quickly with Doflamingo temporarily silenced via his powers. Otherwise his brother was likely to have made some crack at the two, and Rocinante didn't want him to aggravate someone else already. With his identity taken care of, Rocinante was left to his own devices as he half carried Doflamingo into one of the cabins of the ship.

Doflamingo didn't try to move away from his brother when he settled him down in the cabin, because Rocinante had no trouble clearing away traces of blood as he treated Doflamingo's wounds as best he could. When Rocinante noticed that his brother was attempting to say something after he'd settled him on a bed, Rocinante reluctantly tapped his shoulder again to remove his Devil Fruit's effects.

"I do not know how much longer I can keep my insides intact." Doflamingo admitted after he had coughed briefly. "It doesn't appear to be…getting any better."

"What happened to Law's arm?" Rocinante cut in, doing his best to not think about what would happen should Doflamingo wind up dead.

"He got it in his head that he could fight me...as an equal." Doflamingo let out a breathless laugh. "Fufufu. I had no idea that Law was so attached to you…that he would put himself in harm's way to avenge you by taking me down." Doflamingo laughed again but broke off in a fit of coughing.

"And if that didn't work, then Kaido would finish the job for him?" Rocinante was no fool. He had figured out what Law had been up to by piecing things together ever since he'd learned of the other man's presence on Dressrosa.

"More or less." Doflamingo agreed. "A foolish plan, if he has any knowledge of what Kaido is like."

"What happened to Law?" Rocinante pressed.

"I cut his arm off but it seems as if he…had some help in getting it reattached." Doflamingo said airily.

"I thought you wanted to have him use that ability of his on you." Rocinante said. "If you killed him, you wouldn't have been able to have him do that."

"He never would have used the ability. I had him in a corner, all but dead, and still he refused to give me what I wanted." Doflamingo coughed, got his breathing back under control, and continued. "I felt at the time that I wanted to kill him, so I wasn't going to waste my time trying convince a dying man to do as I wanted." Doflamingo gave a careless shrug as he rolled over onto his side, and faced away from Rocinante. "If all you will talk about is Law, then leave me be."

"I was getting to a more pressing matter." Rocinante said as he stared at his brother's back.

"If it is going to involve me being taken to a question and answer session with the revolutionaries, I will pass on that as well." Doflamingo said after a moment.

"We're going to talk one way or another, no matter how long it takes." Rocinante pointed out. When Doflamingo said nothing in response, the younger Donquixote brother turned and began to head to the door. "I will be back in the morning. We can talk then. Perhaps you'll be more agreeable when you've had some sleep."

Doflamingo's reply to the very idea of ever being agreeable was to let out a rasping laugh that left him breathless an gasping for air.

-x-

As the days passed, Rocinante attempted many times to try and engage Doflamingo in conversation, but it never amounted to anything because the warlord refused to give any information away. It was frustrating but not at all unexpected, because Rocinante knew that it was going to take some time to convince Doflamingo to share whatever knowledge it was that his brother hinted and teased that he knew.

Information that other people would see him dead for, lest he let that secret slip past his lips to the general public.

Rocinante felt that Doflamingo was far too amused in his current position and had begun to worry if perhaps his brother had something nefarious in mind that he was somehow not able to see. Something that Doflamingo was going to do without his noticing it. Because of the concern, Rocinante made sure that there were guards posted at the door of the cabin that Doflamingo was being kept locked inside. The younger Donquixote brother had even made the decision to have one of the revolutionaries put some sea stone fragments in the door, and around the inside of the cabin, for that matter, should Doflamingo find enough strength to call on his powers to make an escape attempt. Rocinante knew that his brother would make an escape attempt and it was only a matter of when that would happen than if it would happen.

That had been three days ago, and Doflamingo was still inside the cabin and not doing anything but being verbally evasive and clearly pleased with himself for it. Whenever Rocinante saw him those three days, it was to see Doflamingo worn out and wheezing. Whether it was genuine or Doflamingo was lying it on thick to present a miserable picture, Rocinante wasn't sure. He doubted that Doflamingo would stoop so low as to let himself be seen as weak, even around his own brother. So he must be in as bad of shape as he had hinted at before.

On the fourth day, Rocinante felt that he had to get some kind of information wrangled out of his brother, whether or not Doflamingo was willing to get it out. He had to get a tidbit to Sabo, otherwise there were going to be other people involved in trying to get Doflamingo to talk. And that was something that Rocinante would rather avoid, and would say as much to Doflamingo. Not that he thought it would have an effect, but Rocinante could always hope that the mention of them being brothers would at least stir something in Doflamingo that would compel him to say something. To keep people from tormenting him and putting him in a worse state than he already was.

With a sigh at the expected laughter he would more than likely receive in the face of being granted some kind of mercy, Rocinante entered the cabin. But as soon as he had the door shut, he was faced with an entirely different Doflamingo than the past three days. In fact, his brother was no longer even handcuffed, and his slight hesitation made Doflamingo make a move. The warlord wasted no time in taking Rocinante down to the ground with a savage smile that nearly reached his eyes.

Rocinante held perfectly still.

Well, that was unexpected and so was the near invisible string that now restricted his airflow.

Rocinante felt that perhaps he'd underestimated his brother and that he shouldn't have told the guards to come back in an hour. He was on his own, and Doflamingo didn't appear to be interested in hearing anything he had to say. But he wasn't dead and Rocinante let himself believe that that was a good sign. He would just have to wait to make his own move, and he was riding on his brother's arrogance to give him an opening.

He just had to be patient.

-x-

Doflamingo wanted to laugh.

He really did, because he had known that his brother was far too noble for his own good and wasn't about to let anyone else near him lest they hurt him some more. It was a foolish decision, because Doflamingo was able to use the downtime and peace and quiet the past few days to try and fix his innards, even if he knew that it was only ever going to be a temporary fix. A faint cough drew Doflamingo's attention down to Rocinante, and the grin grew a little wider.

"You know, I would have expected you to use sea stone by now." Doflamingo mused vaguely, as he let up on the pressure of the string riding around his brother's neck. As Rocinante struggled to regain his breath, Doflamingo continued. "If it were me, I would have not even locked a Devil Fruit user up in a cabin such as this. It makes escape a viable option if there isn't any sea stone to impede one's movements. Some cargo hold made of sea stone would have been a better way to go." Doflamingo languidly rose from the ground, unaware that Rocinante was slowly inching a hand toward a pocket. "You're making this too easy for me."

"I was trying to be nice but I guess even you can't appreciate the fact that I am not allowing anyone else to try and coerce information out of you." Rocinante said darkly.

"They could try but it would be for nothing." Doflamingo said carelessly as he walked toward the opposite wall of the cabin and raised a hand. "Unfortunately, you didn't foresee this, so it's really your own fault when I get away." Doflamingo swung his hand at the wall, intent on tearing this damn ship to pieces, only to find that as soon as he touched the walls, his Devil Fruit powers were canceled out.

What?

"Who's not foreseeing things now?" Rocinante asked in a grim voice.

Doflamingo began to make a sharp turn to the right, but it was too late. His brother was already there, and he would have laughed at how vicious Rocinante could be. Doflamingo hadn't expected to be struck sharply in the head. It wasn't enough to knock him out, but it was enough to get him back under control, and Doflamingo presumed that that was all Rocinante wanted at the moment. He should have guessed that Rocinante would have the foresight to get sea stone in the cabin, but had made the assumption that his brother wouldn't have bothered since he was wounded and not in the best of shape.

It was a mistake and one that Doflamingo would not make again as he hit the floor of the cabin with a grunt.

"I know you're still awake." Rocinante said from somewhere overhead.

"I know that I am because you didn't hit me hard enough." Doflamingo slurred, but couldn't work up enough strength to get his limbs to cooperate. Instead, he felt Rocinante move his arms, and knew, from the sensation, that it was sea stone as the cuffs were settled around his wrists. Rocinante must have been serious if he would willingly touch the accursed stone. Doflamingo tested the handcuffs before he let it alone and addressed his brother. "I thought you weren't going to kill me."

"You're not going to die from being handcuffed." Rocinante said in exasperation.

"Unless my organs fall apart while they are on." Doflamingo commented as he rested his head on the floor and let out a heavy sigh. "In fact, I can feel them already begin to unravel. Too bad. I guess you won't get the answers you want."

"Don't be so melodramatic. The doctors said your internal organs will be fine for at least a couple of months, with or without your Devil Fruit powers seeing to them." Rocinante sounded a little uncertain, and his brother jumped on that uncertainty with a sly smile.

"So they say." Doflamingo returned with a laugh. "But perhaps they just wish for me to die and lied to you over the state I'm actually in." Doflamingo allowed Rocinante to help him up off of the floor of the cabin. Not that he could have protested, since the sea stone prism handcuffs made him feel like shit. "I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case."

"They have no reason to lie to me." Rocinante replied, as he settled Doflamingo back onto the bed. "They would have come here and killed you in your sleep otherwise."

"Unless they have something to gain from letting me slowly die out and have you come here, trying to get answers." The warlord said as he twisted on the bed to better see his brother.

"No one is manipulating me. If there is any of that going on, it would be me manipulating other people." Rocinante replied. "It's how I was able to meet you a few days ago. I'd convinced the government to let me work for them in order to bring you in, and they leapt at the chance of someone doing their dirty work for them. It wasn't that hard."

"It really is a shame that you made Law such a spineless coward. I rather miss the resentful brat that he had been thirteen years ago, when he was angry with the world and wanted to kill people." Doflamingo said wistfully. "It really is too bad that he never really got to see the manipulative side of you. He just has the image of you as some saint that saved him." Doflamingo snickered. "I wonder what he would think of you if he knew all of what you'd done leading up to meeting one another."

"I'll have that conversation with him when the time comes." Rocinante stated. "Until then, I'd appreciate if you left Law out of our conversations."

"What, you don't want to hear what the brat was up to?" Doflamingo prodded with a sharp grin.

"Doffy." Rocinante growled irritably, clenching a fist against the headboard of the bed.

"Ah, the anger finally shows itself." Doflamingo said lazily, with a straight face. He didn't seem concerned about actually being struck. "It's a wonder that you're able to keep it bottled up so well."

"Not always…" Rocinante briefly avoided eye contact. "I did set a few hospitals on fire and punched some doctors in the face when they treated Law like he was a contagious disease and not a person that was in need of help." Rocinante said, unable to help but reply to his brother's words.

Doflamingo laughed a good long while at that.

"I can leave you to it if you're not going to say anything of use." Rocinante said as he made as if to turn away.

"Ah, you're no fun Roci." Doflamingo said with a wheezy laugh. "But you've been rather persistent, so I'll give you a little something to dwell on." The warlord grinned at the sight of his brother stiffening in place, and Doflamingo allowed himself to flop more comfortably on the bed before speaking. "If you want to help the revolutionaries find where the stash of weapons came from that I was shipping out, they're going to have to take a look at somewhere they might not expect weapons to be manufactured." Doflamingo loved that he'd gotten Rocinante to look over his shoulder at him. "It's a bit of a….cold place, and is well guarded. Why, it may even have one of the Four Emperor's underlings looking after it. Fufufufu." Doflamingo expected his brother to run off with that little tidbit, but instead received a faint smile for what he'd just said.

Odd.

"Thank you." Rocinante murmured, before he left the room.

Doflamingo could tell that his brother had meant it, but did not trust him not to try and make another escape attempt, as the door was locked soon after. Well, with that little bit of information, Doflamingo figured he would need to try and make a getaway despite being handcuffed. He was fairly certain that Rocinante would push for more information after what he had already said, and Doflamingo didn't feel like giving anything else away at that point in time. He's rather have it saved up for when it mattered, such as if he came into the clutches of the marines and needed some kind of immunity, warlord status or not.

Doflamingo mused over his options for two hours, but as soon as his eyes fell on something in the room, his grin took over his features.

He had a perfect plan now, and wasted no time in implementing it.

-x-

When Rocinante returned the following morning to the cabin he'd left his brother in, it was to find a still and very dead Doflamingo lying on the bed. It appeared as if the former warlord had not been able to hold on any longer from the wounds that he had suffered, especially those internal wounds that he had received from Law. Rociante didn't even care that he would no longer be able to learn anything from Doflamingo, because there he was, dead, and Rocinante found that the sight hurt him just as much as when he thought the other man was dead before on Dressrosa.

Rocinante found himself sinking to his knees alongside the body on the bed and began to cry. The younger Donquxote brother reached out to shakily smooth Doflamingo's hair back, before he reached down and gipped the nearest unmoving hand. In a way, Rocinante couldn't help but feel that things would turn out this way, whether Doflamingo had lived longer or not. His brother had been too broken to fix and save for the monster that he had become.

"I didn't want you dead, Doffy." Rocinante murmured softly as his hand gripped the limp one tighter. He'd more or less cried his eyes out after a few minutes and was now numb with disbelief that his brother had died on a bed, like their mother, instead of having gone down in a fight as Rocinante believed he might one day, prisoner or no. Rocinante took a deep breath before he let it out as he managed to get a hold of himself. "I really did care about you, despite what happened with father. I may have used that as a reason to try and spy on you in the first place, but I never wanted this." With a sniff, Rocinante let go of Doflamingo's limp hand and rose, wondering what he was going to tell the revolutionaries when he saw them.

But as he walked, something caught his eye, and it was something that made him have doubts. But when Rocinante looked closer, all he saw was the body of his brother on the bed. The doubt lingered at what he'd just seen, or thought he had seen, but he turned to leave in any case, and closed the door behind him.

-x-

Ten minutes passed from the time that Rocinante had left the cabin, and a sudden rumble of laughter emitted from a far corner of the now darkened room.

"Fufufufu."

The body on the bed promptly turned to string.

Doflamingo languidly stopped before the cabin door with a grin. His brother should have known better than to think that those wounds would kill him so easily. And since Doflamingo had been left to his own devices, he'd even gotten those dratted handcuffs off of himself with the keys he'd found in plain sight on the floor of the cabin. Rocinante must have dropped them at some point. Doflamingo had wasted no time in putting those same cuffs on the clone he had made of himself, even if his brow had creased in distaste at the sensation of the sea stone in his hands.

But the ruse had worked.

Doflamingo turned away from the door with a sly grin. As much as he wanted to question his brother further, it was imperative that he leave. Doflamingo had to get out of there before anyone noticed that there wasn't actually a body to come collect and that he had in fact-

"Doffy?"

Doflamingo had only made it a few steps after he'd heard his brother's distraught cry. The warlord grunted as a warm body collided with his own from behind and took him to the floor of the cabin for the second time that day. Doflamingo grimaced as he landed and jarred some of his wounds. He was still injured, and falling onto those sore spots that he had was never any fun. If he listened very closely, Doflamingo could hear that Rocinante was crying again, and shifted slightly. Perhaps he could slip away while his brother was distracted somewhat. And then the cold feel of metal appeared on his wrists again with a click.

Dammit.

"I won't let you get away that easily, Doffy." Rocinante muttered from somewhere from against his brother's shoulder. "You're terrible for doing that, by the way."

"I guess I couldn't fool you." Doflamingo couldn't help but start to laugh. "You stood out in that hall for ten minutes?" His brother was a crafty one, all right. Perhaps it would be amusing to wait and see what would happen.

"I can't believe you thought I'd think that that was you. You weren't that badly wounded, or did you forget that you weren't stabbed any higher than your abdomen? Or that you had no real visible injury?" Rocinante didn't appear to enjoy Doflamingo's amusement of the situation as much, but it was clear that he was relieved that his brother was not dead. "And would you stop laughing? It isn't funny at all. You almost had me convinced until I saw a string floating in the air right before I left the cabin."

"Oh, but it was entertaining since you were actually crying." So that was what it was. Doflamingo figured that he might have been a bit hasty in creating the clone that an odd string or two might have drifted around aimlessly. That was likely what Rocinante had seen. Doflamingo grinned.

"You didn't think that would make me cry?" Rocinante sounded almost offended.

"I didn't think you'd actually be that upset, no. Especially since I shot you all those years ago." Doflamingo said gleefully in return. "You're at odds with yourself, brother."

"The only thing that I am having trouble with right this moment is what I should do about you." Rocinante stated after a brief moment of silence. "It really wouldn't do for you to speak in riddles if I take you to talk to some of the revolutionaries, even if the information about the weapon stash is something they can work with."

"What makes you think I will say anything to them?" The warlord continued to grin despite the fact Rocinante couldn't see it from where he was as he helped Doflamingo to his feet. "I almost regret telling you anything if you think it will be easy to get anything else out of me."

"I'm sure I'll figure something out." Rocinante said as he urged Doflamingo toward the door. "We have some time, after all, before the fallout with Kaido and his lack of SMILE will occur."

The warlord said nothing, and instead continued to smile a vague smile. Doflamingo's eyes gave nothing away, though he made a point not to meet anyone's eyes as he and Rocinante walked out of the cabin and down the hall of the ship. Doflamingo didn't much care where they were going right now so much as what he was going to do when faced with some revolutionaries. Other than not give them what they wanted when he got nothing in return. There were a lot of uncertainties in the future, so whether or not Doflamingo lived to see them would be dependent on his powers holding out for his internal wounds. It also depended on what what Rocinante chose to do about questioning him.

Doflamingo was content for the time being to lie in wait and let the pieces fall into place right in front of his eyes before he would use them as he saw fit. Just because he had fallen from the throne didn't mean that he couldn't be there again at some point. And from it, Doflamingo could watch the world burn when things eventually fell apart. And they would fall apart, because the last of the gears had broken, and there was no holding back the repercussions of those actions.

And if Doflamingo could manage it, he'd be right there in the midst of the chaos, bringing destruction around him as everything went to hell.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

A/N: Ugh, this took me forever to edit and it got really dark by the last few lines for some reason or another, but I had a lot of fun writing it. I'm happy with how it turned out from where it was, especially from a week ago. I might (might, mind you) add to this or start some spin off fic with the way this fic went because I will write AU's with Rocinante/Corazon in it because I will forever be in denial about what happened to him. For now, this fic will be a one-shot for the opreversebang.


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